How Much Does It Cost to Run a Coffee Maker?
Short answer: about $0.039 a day and $1.17 a month, or $0.16 for each hour it runs at full power, at the 2025 US average electricity rate. That is for a 900 W coffee maker running 0.25 hours a day with a 100% duty cycle. Change the state and hours below for your own number.
Updated Nov 8, 2026
Quick answer
Quick answer, US average (17.3 c/kWh)
About $1.17 a month
The same use costs $0.80 a month in North Dakota and $2.74 in Hawaii.
- Per hour
- $0.16
- at 900 W
- Per day
- $0.039
- 0.25 h, 0.23 kWh
- Per month
- $1.17
- 30 days
- Per year
- $14.21
- 365 days at the same use
Your state, your hours
Per hour
$0.16
Per day
$0.039
Per month
$1.17
Per year
$14.21
Coffee Maker at 900 W, 0.25 h a day, 30 days a month, 100% duty cycle: 6.8 kWh a month. Using the 2025 US average of 17.3 cents/kWh.
Want to change the watts or duty cycle too? Open the full calculator.
What decides the cost of running a coffee maker
A drip coffee maker spends nearly all of its energy in two places: the heating element that boils water up through the tube during the brew, and the warming plate under the carafe afterward. During the brew a typical 10 to 12 cup machine draws 900 to 1,100 W, and a full pot takes 8 to 10 minutes. That is about 0.15 kWh, under 3 cents a pot at the national average rate. The default on this page is 900 W for 15 minutes a day, 0.225 kWh, which covers one pot plus a little reheating.
The warming plate is where a coffee maker quietly adds up. The plate itself is rated 40 to 100 W and cycles on its own thermostat. Most current machines shut it off after two hours, but older ones and some commercial-style brewers keep it hot until someone flips the switch. A plate averaging 60 W for 8 hours uses about 0.5 kWh, more than twice the energy of brewing the pot. A thermal carafe skips the plate entirely and keeps coffee hot for hours with no power at all.
Single-serve pod machines work differently. They draw 1,200 to 1,500 W while heating, but each cup only needs to heat about 10 ounces of water, roughly 0.03 kWh, so each cup costs about half a cent in electricity. The catch is the hot standby on some models, which keep an internal reservoir hot all day so the next cup is ready in seconds. Turn on the auto-off, usually buried in the settings menu, and the machine only heats when you want a cup.
Espresso machines are a different category again. A compact machine like the Breville Bambino is rated 1,560 W, and models with a boiler that stays hot all morning can use more energy idling than pulling shots. Whatever you brew with, the electricity is a rounding error next to the coffee itself, so the main saving is not leaving a hot plate or a hot boiler on for hours.
How to cut it
- Pour the coffee into a thermal carafe or insulated mug and switch off the warming plate.
- Turn on auto-off on a pod machine so it does not hold its reservoir hot all day.
- Descale every few months. Mineral scale slows the brew and keeps the element on longer.
- Brew the amount you will drink. A full pot poured out at noon cost the same electricity as one you drank.
Coffee Maker cost by state
Monthly cost for 900 W, 0.25 h a day, 100% duty cycle, 30 days, sorted cheapest to most expensive. Pick your state above to highlight it.
| Rank | State | Cents/kWh | Per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Dakota | 11.81 | $0.80 |
| 2 | Idaho | 11.82 | $0.80 |
| 3 | Nebraska | 12.34 | $0.83 |
| 4 | Louisiana | 12.57 | $0.85 |
| 5 | Arkansas | 12.84 | $0.87 |
| 6 | Montana | 12.98 | $0.88 |
| 7 | Utah | 13.07 | $0.88 |
| 8 | Washington | 13.11 | $0.88 |
| 9 | Oklahoma | 13.12 | $0.89 |
| 10 | Nevada | 13.15 | $0.89 |
| 11 | Tennessee | 13.18 | $0.89 |
| 12 | Kentucky | 13.24 | $0.89 |
| 13 | South Dakota | 13.38 | $0.90 |
| 14 | Wyoming | 13.38 | $0.90 |
| 15 | Missouri | 13.49 | $0.91 |
| 16 | Iowa | 13.72 | $0.93 |
| 17 | North Carolina | 14.02 | $0.95 |
| 18 | Mississippi | 14.03 | $0.95 |
| 19 | Kansas | 14.56 | $0.98 |
| 20 | Georgia | 14.73 | $0.99 |
| 21 | South Carolina | 14.96 | $1.01 |
| 22 | New Mexico | 15.08 | $1.02 |
| 23 | Florida | 15.24 | $1.03 |
| 24 | Virginia | 15.28 | $1.03 |
| 25 | Arizona | 15.32 | $1.03 |
| 26 | Oregon | 15.37 | $1.04 |
| 27 | West Virginia | 15.41 | $1.04 |
| 28 | Texas | 15.47 | $1.04 |
| 29 | Minnesota | 15.82 | $1.07 |
| 30 | Colorado | 15.85 | $1.07 |
| 31 | Alabama | 16.10 | $1.09 |
| 32 | Indiana | 16.23 | $1.10 |
| 33 | Ohio | 16.96 | $1.14 |
| 34 | Delaware | 17.13 | $1.16 |
| 35 | Illinois | 17.69 | $1.19 |
| 36 | Wisconsin | 18.16 | $1.23 |
| 37 | Pennsylvania | 19.30 | $1.30 |
| 38 | Maryland | 19.48 | $1.31 |
| 39 | Michigan | 20.01 | $1.35 |
| 40 | District of Columbia | 21.94 | $1.48 |
| 41 | New Jersey | 22.63 | $1.53 |
| 42 | Vermont | 22.92 | $1.55 |
| 43 | New Hampshire | 24.56 | $1.66 |
| 44 | Alaska | 26.09 | $1.76 |
| 45 | New York | 26.39 | $1.78 |
| 46 | Maine | 27.78 | $1.88 |
| 47 | Connecticut | 29.38 | $1.98 |
| 48 | Rhode Island | 29.46 | $1.99 |
| 49 | Massachusetts | 30.48 | $2.06 |
| 50 | California | 32.54 | $2.20 |
| 51 | Hawaii | 40.59 | $2.74 |
Rates: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-861, annual average residential price, 2025 (eia.gov). Full list on the electricity rates by state page.
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Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to run a coffee maker per day?+
About 4 cents a day. A 900 W machine on for 15 minutes uses 0.9 x 0.25 = 0.225 kWh, and 0.225 x $0.173 is $0.039 at the national average rate.
How much does it cost to run a coffee maker per month?+
About $1.17 a month on the default of 15 minutes a day: 0.225 kWh x 30 days = 6.75 kWh, and 6.75 x $0.173 is $1.17. Over a year that is about 82 kWh, roughly $14.
How many watts does a coffee maker use?+
About 900 to 1,100 W while brewing for a typical 10 to 12 cup drip machine, 1,200 to 1,500 W for a single-serve pod machine while heating, and 40 to 100 W for a warming plate once the brew is done.
How much does it cost to brew a pot of coffee?+
Under 3 cents for the electricity. A 12 cup pot takes about 10 minutes at roughly 900 W, which is about 0.15 kWh, and 0.15 x $0.173 is about 2.6 cents.
How much does it cost per hour to run a coffee maker?+
About 16 cents for each hour the brew element is on, since 0.9 kWh x $0.173 = $0.156. A machine never brews for a full hour, though. On the warming plate alone, at an average of about 60 W, an hour costs about 1 cent.
Does leaving a coffee maker on all day cost much?+
About 8 cents for 8 hours on the warming plate. A plate averaging 60 W uses 0.06 x 8 = 0.48 kWh, and 0.48 x $0.173 is $0.083. Every day of the month adds up to about $2.50, more than double the cost of brewing.
Does a coffee maker use a lot of electricity?+
No. Its draw is high while brewing, but it only brews for a few minutes. The default uses about 82 kWh a year, less than 1 percent of the roughly 10,000 to 11,000 kWh a year EIA reports for an average US home.
Is a Keurig cheaper to run than a drip coffee maker?+
Per cup, about the same, about half a cent. A pod machine heats about 10 ounces at a time, roughly 0.03 kWh. It costs more only if it holds its reservoir hot all day, so turn on the auto-off. The pods cost far more than the electricity either way.
Should I unplug my coffee maker?+
Only if it has a clock or a hot standby. A basic drip machine with a mechanical switch draws nothing when off. A digital clock draws about 1 W, roughly 9 kWh a year or $1.50, while a pod machine left in hot standby can use more than its brewing does.
How can I lower the cost of running a coffee maker?+
Switch off the warming plate and use a thermal carafe, set auto-off on a pod machine, and descale regularly. Shutting off a 60 W plate 6 hours earlier each day saves about 0.36 kWh, about 6 cents a day or $23 a year.
Marcus Reed
Founder and Editor, CrunchYourDollars
Marcus Reed builds the sizing tools on CrunchYourDollars. He is a software engineer with a long-running PC hardware and power supply habit, which is where the watts, watt-hours and surge math on this site comes from. Product specs are pulled from manufacturer data sheets, electricity rates from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, and water chemistry rules from the Water Quality Association. He is not a licensed electrician or plumber: the tools show the math and the matching models so you can make the call, and anything involving your electrical panel should be checked by a licensed pro.
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